StreetSafe

Face of our project
A StreetSafe Lamp
Arduino Circuit Schematic
Arduino Circuit

Inspiration

Around June 2022, Zara Aleena was attacked and killed as she was on her way home in a dimly-lit area of East London. This inspired us to create a product that might've improved that situation, as well as make it safer for others like her travelling at night.

What it does

A network of sustainable solar-powered LED street lamps equipped with infrared camera sensors that turn on when people and cars passing by. Each light alerts its neighbouring lamps, and stay on for around 20 minutes. The lamps also keep a log of every time they were triggered. They are powered by solar panels, and use LED bulbs instead of high pressure sodium bulbs. The lamps also have a QR code that links to the what3words of that location, for lost passers-by to use to help law enforcement identify their location.

Prototype of the system

We used Arduino Unos to simulate how two street lamps would interact in this system. Instead of an infrared camera, we used an ultrasonic sensor. For the sake of the prototype, the Arduino's communicate via serial transmission, but in the actual system we would implement wireless communication. When one Arduino is triggered by motion, it alerts the next one to switch on as well, lighting up the way for the passer-by. The lights only stay on for a certain period of time and then turn off, unless triggered again.

Challenges we ran into

We struggled to find a way to showcase the system, since creating an actual street lamp with our proposed technology was out of reach. However we simulated the situation using Arduinos, and a small animation.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We're proud of expressing our idea in a creative way. We also like that our proposal could make scary situations a little easier to solve and prevent. And the fact that we're passionate about the product and feel as though it could make a difference.

What's next for StreetSafe

Figuring out a way to enhance already existing lamps in well-lit areas to use our technology, as opposed to our current status of creating new ones to replace them.